Month: August 2018

Brazilian guitarist extraordinaire, Paulo Martelli, interprets the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in a beautifully sensitive and profound way. The added resonance of his 11-string guitar enhance the the aura of Bach’s Adagio, BWV1056 enough to make me confess that I would like more strings.

This video comes via the Guitar Coop in Brazil. As with all of their videos, it is shot with extreme quality on both the audio and video fronts.

If you feel compelled to listen to more, enjoy this magestic performance of Paulo playing the Gigue from Bach’s Cello Suite Nº2, BWV1008.

Need something new to add to your slur studies? Try this series of advanced exercises for the left hand that combine compound slurs and accents. Use them to build endurance, control, and precision. For each of the three levels illustrated keep the following points in mind:

Practice on various strings in various positions.

Practice slowly with great rhythmic intent.

Keep movements efficient and clean.

Play accents clearly.

Keep left hand wrist and fingers as relaxed as possible.

If at any point your hand and fingers feel like they are going to fall off, consider stopping.

Level 1

For these exercises use the following left hand finger patterns: 12, 23, 34, 13, 24, 14. The example below uses 12.

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Level 2

For these exercises use the following left hand finger patterns: 123, 321, 134, 431, 124, 421, 234, 432. The example below uses 124.

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Level 3

For these exercises use the following left hand finger patterns: 1234, 4321, 1324, 4231, 1423, 4132. The example below uses 1234.

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

If your left hand has not been challenged or you’d like to expand the exercises a bit or you DO want your hand and fingers to fall off, use a bar or fix a left hand finger that is not in use to another string and nearby fret.